The New Orleans Pelicans and Brooklyn Nets will square off in a season-opening NBA matchup on Wednesday night at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. With that said, it’s a good time to check out our NBA odds series, which includes a Pelicans-Nets prediction and pick, laid out below.

The New Orleans Pelicans snuck into the playoffs with a 36-46 record last season, the first under head coach Willie Green. After securing the ninth seed in the Western Conference, New Orleans lost in six games to the Phoenix Suns in the opening round.

Brooklyn endured a rough season with the Kyrie Irving vaccine drama in New York City. Still, the team was able to overcome all that to finish with a 44-38 record but were swept out of the playoffs in the opening round by Boston. Head coach Steve Nash has a large task in navigating some big personalities.

Here are the Pelicans-Nets NBA odds, courtesy of FanDuel

NBA Odds: Pelicans-Nets Odds

New Orleans Pelicans: +2.5 (-110)

Brooklyn Nets: -2.5 (-110)

Over: 231.5 (-110)

Under: 231.5 (-110)

Why The Pelicans Could Cover The Spread

New Orleans made a huge leap last season, acquiring CJ McCollum from Portland, eventually signing McCollum to a contract extension last month. McCollum averaged 24.3 points per game in his 26 games with New Orleans, which would be a career-high in a full season. McCollum's shooting percentage shot up to nearly 50 percent in his time with New Orleans. Brandon Ingram has emerged as a scoring threat since leaving the Lakers, averaging a combined 23.4 points per game in his three seasons with New Orleans.

Ingram pulled down 5.8 rebounds per game last season, the fourth-best total on the team. Jonas Valanciunas led the team with 11.4 rebounds per game, averaging a double-double for the third straight season. Devonte Graham averaged 11.9 points per game and 4.2 assists per game. Zion Williamson is healthy for the first time since 2020-21 when he averaged 27 points per game in 61 games. Williamson has played in just 85 career games but has averaged 25.7 points per game in his career. New Orleans averaged 109.3 points per game and allowed 110.3 points per game last season.

Why The Nets Could Cover The Spread

Brooklyn still counts Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving as members of their team, which is great news to their rabid fanbase. Durant and Irving hardly played together last season, with the latter appearing in just 29 games. Durant led the team with an impressive 29.9 points per game but was only available for 55 games. Seth Curry played in just 19 games but is back after averaging 14.9 points per game on 49 percent shooting. Ben Simmons and all that comes with him will finally play for the Brooklyn Nets after being acquired midseason in the James Harden deal.

Simmons has played four seasons, averaging 15.9 points, 8.1 rebounds, and 7.7 assists in his career. Simmons could be the perfect compliment to the scorers on this offense, but there needs to be a true desire to play, which was clearly absent last season. Joe Harris has a reputation as a knockdown three-point shooter and continued that reputation with a 47 percent rate from behind the arc last season. Harris averaged 11.3 points per game before going down with a season-ending injury. Brooklyn averaged 112.9 points per game and allowed 112.1 points per game.

Final Pelicans-Nets Prediction & Pick

Lots of offense and no defense (well, duh it is the NBA) but Brooklyn has more star power.

Final Pelicans-Nets Prediction & Pick: Brooklyn -2.5 (-110), over 231.5 (-110)